Limiter circuits are employed in a wide range of systems and devices for a variety of applications. For example, limiter circuits may be employed in microwave sensing and communication systems to limit signal strength (e.g., voltage, current, and/or power) and to prevent system overloading, prevent damage of system components, limit signal sensitivity, and/or the like. In military applications, limiter circuits may be particularly useful to prevent damage to radar, electronic warfare, and communication system receivers and other components from intentional or unintentional overloading and possible damage from high-power signals.
Typical limiter circuits are associated with trade-offs between signal-limiting functionalities and maintaining signal quality. For example, a limiter circuit designed to limit signals above a relatively modest cut-off threshold may adversely affect signal quality (e.g., distort the signal, decrease a signal to noise ratio (SNR), increase a bit error rate (BER), etc.) and hence impact system performance. In contrast, a limiter circuit designed to pass signals to a relatively high cut-off threshold may increase the risk of system overload and/or damage.
Typical limiter circuits may also be difficult to integrate with other elements in a monolithic integrated circuit (IC), multi-chip module (MCM), and/or the like. For example, typical limiter circuits may be physically bulky and thus difficult to integrate onto a monolithic IC or MCM. In addition, fabrication processes and materials for typical limiter circuits may not be compatible with fabrication processes and materials for other system elements. Thus, additional fabrication steps and/or other difficulties with integrating typical limiter circuits onto a monolithic IC or MCM may be incurred.